During the recent school holidays Mr Daines, Miss Taylor and 7 students travelled to Vietnam and spent 21 days navigating from the south in the Mekong Delta to the Ba Be National Park in the north. The trip was split up into three significant parts project, trek and exploration.

Our project was set in a remote community in the Mekong Delta, where we were set the task of helping to decorate the community kindergarten. A splash of colour was added to the fences, class buildings and children’s play equipment. Through the students fundraising, we were also able to purchase 3 fans, over 50 books and offer 2 scholarships for families that were struggling to pay for school. One of our students also offered some of their own personal money to sponsor another 3 students to help them attend school. I can honestly say this was certainly the most rewarding part of the trip and one we all enjoyed. Seeing the smiling faces and excited reaction of the kindergarten children was very humbling and certainly made us realise things we were grateful for.

The second phase was the trek, where for four days the group trekked through a variety of environments such as rice paddy fields, bamboo forests, and amazing views that seemed to go on for miles. It was certainly a tough couple of days that challenged us both physically and mentally, especially the first day where we encountered steep, slippery and at times rocky surfaces. We were surprised though that it didn’t seem to matter how far away we were from civilisation that a cold fanta never seemed too hard to find. Our three homestays during the trek were amazing hosts, the food was great and we certainly never went hungry. A highlight for the team was being able to jump off the boat into the Ba Be Lake after a hot stinky day.

The last phase of the trip was exploration; here the students were responsible for booking accommodation, organising transport, finding places to eat and activities to do. Hoi An was certainly one of the team's favourite places and a day at the beach was one of the highlights. Personal cooking and lantern making classes were enjoyed amongst a lot of banter. 

During the twenty one days, students learnt leadership skills, resilience, budgeting skills and the importance of money, as well as many life skills around travelling.